ATCHISON, David Rice, a Senator from Missouri; born in Frogtown, Ky., August 11, 1807; attended
Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky.; studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in
Liberty, Clay County, Mo., in 1829; also engaged in agricultural pursuits; member of the State house of
representatives in 1834, and again in 1838; appointed judge of the Platte County circuit court in 1841;
appointed and subsequently elected in 1843 as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the
vacancy caused by the death of Lewis F. Linn; reelected in 1849, and served from October 14, 1843,
to March 3, 1855; President pro tempore of the Senate (Twenty-ninth through Thirty-third
Congresses); chairman, Committee on the Militia (Twenty-ninth Congress), Committee on Indian
Affairs (Thirtieth through Thirty-second Congresses); resumed the practice of law; died at his home
near Gower, Clinton County, Mo., January 26, 1886; interment in Greenlawn Cemetery, Plattsburg,
Mo.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Atchison, Theodore. David R. Atchison, A Study in
American Politics. Missouri Historical Review 24 (July 1930): 502-15; Parrish,
William E. David Rice Atchison of Missouri: Border Politician Columbia: University
of Missouri Press, 1961.